5 important things happening in the UK today

December 31, 2025

Eurostar hit by massive delays: Eurostar passengers are braced for more possible disruption, after a power outage in the Channel Tunnel caused travel chaos for thousands of people on Tuesday. As people scrambled to get to places in time for New Year’s Eve, some travellers said they spent more than six hours stuck onboard trains overnight as services were hit by more delays. [BBC]

British living standards to fall behind Malta: Britons will be poorer than people in Malta within a decade as Rachel Reeves’s repeated tax raids condemn the UK to the economic slow lane.  Living standards in Britain are forecast to slip behind that of the Mediterranean archipelago by 2035, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The CEBR’s annual league table of economies also warned that Sir Keir Starmer would fail to meet a flagship pledge to raise living standards this parliament. [Telegraph]

Badenoch under fire as Tory shadow attorney general acts for Roman Abramovich: Kemi Badenoch is under pressure to act on the revelations that her shadow attorney general is representing the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, despite UK sanctions against him. David Wolfson, a Tory peer, is part of the legal team representing Abramovich as he attempts to recover billions in frozen assets he owns in the Channel islands. Abramovich is caught up in a legal battle with the government of Jersey after it launched an investigation into the source of more than £5.3 billion of assets linked to him and held there. [Guardian]

Millions of Brits turn to A&E for coughs, headaches, and blocked noses: Accident and emergency departments in England have been overrun with millions of patients seeking help for minor conditions, as the NHS battles lengthy A&E waiting times and arecord number of flu admissions. Analysis by the Press Association shows that over the past five years A&E medics have dealt with a number of cases that could have been handled by GPs or pharmacists. [ITV]

On Wednesday, Oil was trading lower at $61.27. The pound is trading at $1.35, €1.15, and ¥9.41.

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